What if he survived
by JustRook
Summary: Before Reiner,Annie,and Bertholdt broke the gates of Wall Maria, they had a fourth friend that got eaten by Ymir. So what if he lived and survived the encounter. (Porco's also here because why not) (Multiple 9 Titans AU).
1. The beginning

They were all in silence at what they just heard from Marcel. Were they just that hungry that they were starting to hallucinate, or were they really hearing this. Either way, they didn't have time to fully process what they heard as a titan immediately emerged from the ground.

Reiner was frozen in his place as he looked at the titan, horrified. The titan quickly tried to grab him but before he could try to run, Marcel pushed him out of the titan's way. As Reiner fell to the ground, he looked at Marcel. He saw him raised his hand to his mouth and bite it. And just like that, yellow light enveloped Marcel as his jaw titan slowly took form. In just a few seconds, Marcel quickly disposed of the titan that had attacked them. Reiner suddenly felt his shoulder getting pulled. He looked to see who was pulling him. It was Bertholdt, who looked really worried about him.

"Hey!Are you alright Reiner?"Bertholdt asked,nearly shouting.

"I'm alright, Bertholdt. You don't need to shout at me."He replied calmly. But they were startled by someone shouting. Reiner immediately looked at the direction where the voice came from. It was Porco.

"HEY,YOU TWO! WE'RE LEAVING!"Porco yelled again,before turning his back to go towards Marcel.

"Let's go"Bertholdt said, offering him a hand. He accepted the offer and stood up from the ground. The two of them started heading back to the others.

_'Dammit,I really need to thank Marcel for all the things he's done for me' _Reiner thought to himself.

* * *

The five of them,Reiner,Marcel,Bertholdt,Porco,and Annie,spent the whole night planning about their attack against the people in the walls. Once they were done planning,they ate their dinner in silence. Occasionally,Bertholdt would start some small talk. But other than that,it was just silence that accompanied them during their dinner. After they were done eating,all of them started sleeping.

* * *

The next day, they started their plan. Annie used her titan to carry her team and to attract other titans. Once she reached her limit, she switched with Marcel. Marcel's titan was the quickest, so he had to constantly slow down so the other titans can't lose sight of him. If they wanted this plan to work they were gonna need a lot of titans.

"Marcel,Switch!"Reiner yelled at him. Marcel stopped and emerged from his titan. He was immediately grabbed by Reiner's Armored titan. They were so close to the wall. Only a few more minutes and they can destroy the gates and officially start their mission. Marcel immediately started making a story for the five of them in case someone asks them where they live. Suddenly,his stomach sank.

_'How many civilians would be killed because of us? No,stop thinking of that 's already too late for that.'_ He thought to himself.

* * *

**Marcel's P.O.V**

There's so many of them. I never knew how many people lived inside the walls. Thousands of thousands of civilians were all waiting for the boats.

"Children first before the adults. Please no pushing!" I heard one of the soldiers yell. Suddenly,I felt someone grab my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was. It was my brother,Porco. He signaled me to get closer. Once I did, I leaned at him to listen what he had to say. I knew he would say that we should get to the boat but I listened anyway. I looked at him and nodded. He turned around to get the other three to follow him. Once that was done we all went to the front to get to the boat. The soldier looked at the five of us and nodded. We all continued walking till we were on the boat. Once we were on we all sat next to each other. Once I sat down I immediately noticed a crying kid with two other kids next to him. One of them was a blonde while the other one had long dark hair. I suddenly felt guilt for all of this. If only there was another way to get the founding titan. I just buried my head on my knees. There's no use apologizing now. I should just focus on my mission. I looked at my side to see if the others were sleeping. To my surprise I was the only one awake. Oh well,might as well rest now tomorrow's gonna be a busy day.

**...**

"I'll kill them!" What the...  
"I'll kill all the titans!" I looked at the person who was shouting those words. I immediately saw the crying kid looking back at the remains of his home. Well that's what I think he was looking at anyways. I didn't give him any more attention and decided to sleep again.

* * *

Days after the five warriors of Marley attacked, people from Shiganshina District fled to Wall Rose, causing a food shortage. So to solve this problem, the government ordered the Scout Regiment,along with tens of thousands of civilians,to retake Wall Maria. Of the 250,000 soldiers that went to retake Wall Maria only a hundred survived. This operation effectively killed twenty percent of the population. But it also helped reduce food shortages.

* * *

"Hey,Marcel,I got us some bread."Porco says to his brother

"Here,catch" He tossed the bread in front of his brother and started eating his own bread. He noticed how quiet his brother had become after the return of the Scout Regiment. Was his brother scared of those people? He didn't bother asking so he just went to find Reiner,Annie,and Bertholdt.

Once Porco was out of sight, Marcel grabbed his bag and walked towards an old lady carrying a child. The old lady noticed him and smiled. He smiled back and gave her two pieces of bread. The old lady thanked him and grabbed the breads on his hand. He left and started looking for people who were in the same situation as the old lady. He continued to do this until he only had three bread left.

As he was about to return to his friends,he noticed the crying kid being dragged away the kid with the long dark hair beside him when they were on the boat. He,however,wasn't expecting for the crying kid to be punched by the dark hair kid.

"Oh my..."He said to himself. Marcel immediately left and went to his brother and the others. Unsure if he should tell them what he saw or just keep it to himself. He sighed.

"Dammit, these people didn't deserve what happened to them"He whispered to himself.


	2. Training days

**A few weeks later...**

**Porco's P.O.V**

I can't believe this crap. Not even,us,children were spared from trying to cultivate the land. Damn Devils. We're all working in the blazing heat of the sun and we're not even getting paid for this. But to make it worse,I'm not even near My brother and the others. I'm working my ass off with no one to talk to. God dammit all.

"Hey,blondie"The hell...?Who just-

"The one wearing that shit looking T-shirt" I swear to God I'll murder this poor bastard.

"Can't you hear me? Or are you just deaf?" That's it. Whoever this guy is,he messed with the wrong blonde. I immediately turned around to see who the annoying person that kept calling me. And there he was,with a neutral expression on his face. I made my way towards him and grabbed his shirt forcefully.

"The Hell do you want from me?!"I yelled at him. His neutral face didn't falter and just pointed at a certain direction. I looked at where he was pointing. He was pointing at-

"Porco,lay off will you?"Marcel...he was pointing at Marcel. Before I could say anything,however,I was knocked off my feet by a strong force.

_'Annie?' _No wait, this wasn't her technique. _'Then who knocked me down?' _I wonder...

* * *

**Marcel's P.O.V**

My God, Mikasa just knocked down Porco with ease. I need to remind the others of this girl. If she joins the military along with Eren,_we _would be in trouble if she got in our way. I,however,decided to play it cool to see how she would react.

"Porco!" I screamed,pretending to be worried. Eren and Mikasa looked at me for a few seconds before leaving my brother's unconscious body. I sighed. This is getting really ridiculous. First he gets knocked out by Annie for telling a bad joke. Second, he accidentally knocks himself out by tripping and hitting his head on a flower pot. And now he gets knocked out by a girl again.

_'Truly someone to look up to.'_ I thought to myself,nearly chuckling at my bad joke...

I should really stick with Pock so he doesn't get into any fights.

* * *

Over the past few days all of the refugees of wall Maria did nothing but cultivate the lands or some other jobs. Meanwhile, the five warriors of Marley started infiltrating wall Sheena to gather information about the royal family. But their leader,Marcel,instructed them to join the Cadet corps so they can get to the Military Police inside wall Sheena. The others,excluding Annie, were skeptical about his plan. They were worried that Marcel might be feeling sympathetic for the people inside the walls.

"For the last time you three,I don't feel anything for these people. You three are probably just being way too skeptical for your own good."Marcel replied to them, obviously annoyed he's getting asked the same questions in the middle of the night. The three of them,Reiner,Bertholdt,and Porco,looked at each other and nodded their heads.

"Just making sure. We don't want to lose you to the Devils here."Porco replied while he headed off to his sleeping mat.

**...**

There wasn't any sound to be heard after Porco and the other two went to sleep. The only thing Marcel could hear was his own breathing.

_'Devils,huh,wonder what we are then.'_And with that final thought, Marcel went to sleep.

* * *

As soon as Marcel woke up, he immediately packed all of his stuff. This was the day when their mission will become harder. Annie and Porco will undoubtedly be the best ones at this part since both of them have little to no friends. And then there's the other two,Reiner and Bertholdt. Those two'll probably make a lot of friends. And they might hinder the mission.

'God dammit'Marcel whispered to himself. Realizing that he might actually be like those two.

"Well,only time would tell"He said to himself before closing his bag.

**...**

They were all standing in formation. Marcel noticed that most of the new recruit were from Wall Rose. He didn't really need to know why most of these people joined.

'They probably want to join the Military Police.' Porco whispered to him from behind. Marcel glanced at him and nodded.  
'Lazy bastards'Marcel sighed at his brothers words. He hates it when he's right.

'Try not to show that side of yourself when you talk to the Commander or anyone other than us.'Marcel whispered back. Porco let out an annoyed sigh but nodded anyway. They both looked forward after they were done with their chat. They immediately noticed that the Commander headbutting a fellow cadet.

_'This guy's probably the General Magath of Paradis island'_Marcel thought to himself.

**...**

The rest of the "welcoming ceremony" was pretty uneventful. The commander picked up a guy named Connie off the ground for doing the salute wrong. And immediately proceeded to scold a girl named Sasha for eating a potato. She was forced to run until she collapses. Said potato girl was still running. Marcel was outside with a few others,Connie,Marco,Armin,Mina,and Eren,watching her run.

"The potato girl's still running?"Marcel asked the others with him.

"Yeah,she's been at it for five hours now. Her reaction he told her to run until she collapse was nothing when he told her she was not getting any food." Eren replied

"Dauper is a small village of hunters up in the mountains,right?"Connie asked him while still watching Sasha run. Eren,however,seemed to not have been listening and his reply says it all.

"What's that?"he said as he looked at a wagon filled with some of our fellow cadets.

"Dropouts. They requested a transfer to the reclaimed lands"Mina answered him.

"Already? It's only the first day..."Armin said,surprised at what he just heard.

"Yeah,too bad they're gonna miss out on all of the action."Marcel joked,trying to change the topic. But it was in vain as soon as Eren opened his mouth.

"That's just how it is. The weak have no choice but to leave." Everyone looked at him,surprised at what he just said.

"They'd prefer picking up rocks and pulling weeds..." Marco quickly stood up and faced Eren.

"That reminds me. We never heard where you're from or anything"Marco asks

"I'm from Shiganshina,same as him"He replied with a smile while he placed his hand on Armin's shoulder. Everyone was slightly disturbed at how he just casually said that. Marco regained his composure and was the first one to talk

"Oh,I see...That's..."He couldn't complete his sentence before Connie interrupted him.

"Then you were on _that _day too?" Marco tries to scold Connie but to no avail.

"Did you see it? The Colossal titan?!" Connie asked with way too much enthusiasm. Marco turned to look at Eren with a concerned look on hi face.

"Yeah..." The smile on his face disappearing. Before Connie could ask any more questions,Marcel interrupted him with a serious look on his face.

"Hey,Connie,that's enough." Connie looked down and apologized to Eren.

"No,it's fine you guys can ask me anything you want."Eren said,his smile returning to his face. Marcel looked at him and told him to stop the others if the questions start to get personal. Eren nodded.

"Hey,uh...It's getting dark. Let's go inside to continue this shall we?"Mina announced to the rest. Marcel got uncomfortable with the idea of people swarming Eren and harassing him with questions. So he convinced the others to just eat their dinner and continue their questions outside. Thankfully,they all agreed.

**...**

"I already told you. I saw it." Eren said,annoyed. Can't blame him though. Connie kept repeating some of his questions which were already answered earlier.

"How big was it?" Mina asked

"Tall enough to look right over the wall" Eren replied calmly. Marco,Connie,and Mina gasped.

"Someone in my village told us that it was tall enough to straddle the wall!" Mina said,raising her voice a little. Eren took a sip from his soup and looked at the rest of them.

"No,it wasn't _that_ gigantic"

"What did it look like?"Connie asked. Eren took a bite at his bread then looked at Connie.

"It had barely _any_ skin and its mouth was enormous." Suddenly,the door opened and Porco stepped outside.

"What about the Armored titan that broke through Wall Maria?" He asked,pretending to not know. Eren took another sip from his soup and faced Porco.

"Even though people call it that,it looked like a normal titan to me."Eren said coolly while he tries to take another sip from his soup.

"Then what are normal titans to you,then?" Porco said without much enthusiasm in his voice. However,Eren suddenly stops,drops his spoon and covers his mouth as if he's gonna puke. Porco earned a glare from his brother and Marco tells them to stop their questions.

"I'm sure he has memories he'd rather not relive." Marco added.

"Sorry for being so-"But Connie was cut off by Eren.

"Actually,Titans aren't such a big deal. Once we master the Omni-dimensional manuvering gear,they'll be no match for us! We finally have the chance to become soldiers. I just swallowed wrong earlier. I'll join the Survey Corps and I'll purge all the titans in this world!" Porco shifted uncomfortably at what he just heard.

"Dude,are you nuts?"Jean,the kid who got headbutted by the Commander,asked him in a mocking tone. But he didn't stop there

"Did you just say you wanted to join the Survey Corps?"He continued.

"Damn straight. And you wanted to join the MPs to take it easy, right?"Eren asked him,clearly annoyed.

"I'm just an honest fellow. I think that's preferable to acting tough when you're actually scared shitless."He replied keeping his cool. But was surprised when Eren stood up from his seat.

"You got something to say?"Eren glared at him. Though he was scolded by Marco, Jean didn't back down. Uh-oh.

_'This looks like trouble'_ Marcel thought to himself. Already sensing something's about to go down.

"Oh,I wasn't really..."Jean said as he walked towards Eren. They stared each other down. But before anything serious happened, the bell rang. The two looked at the bell and looked at each other again. To everyone's surprise, it was Jean who apologized first. Eren agreed and the two parted ways. They all started to go to their cabins. Porco grabbed Marcel's arm and pulled it.

"Porco,what the hell?!" Marcel yelled at him. Annoyed. Porco nudged his head towards the back of the guys cabin.

"We need to talk about your plan."He said. Marcel looked at his brother, and apologized for yelling. He followed him to the back and saw Reiner and Bertholdt leaning against the cabin. They greeted him and Porco with a smirk and a nod.

"What do you guys want to know about the plan."Marcel asked them coolly. The three of them looked at each other and nodded. Reiner stepped forward and started asking the same questions from a few weeks ago. Marcel gave him the same answers from back then. At first, it was just normal questions about the plan but as soon as Reiner stops talking. Bertholdt asks the worst question Marcel could think of.

"Are we allowed to have friends here?" Marcel was taken back by this. The answer was obvious to him. But this question made him start questioning his loyalty. He stopped trusting Marley as soon as he saw how many innocent people living inside the walls were killed because of **them**. They were all brainwashed into believing that the people of the walls were all Devils. But they were no different from the Eldians in Liberio.

"Oi,answer Bertholdt's question."Porco said. Pulling Marcel out of his thought. He just looked at Bertholdt and nodded his head. Bertholdt smiled and thanked him before leaving with Reiner. Marcel glanced at his brother and saw him shaking his head while walking away. This might just have strained his relationship with his friends and his brother.

* * *

**Marcel's P.O.V**

The next day was pretty uneventful. It was just us trainees practicing our balance to see if we're capable of using the Omni-dimensional manuvering gear. And just as I expected, Mikasa was a natural. Barely swinging back and forth unlike some other recruits. However, I did notice a lot of people gathering on one of the other cadet. And to my surprise,it was Eren. He failed the first day of training already. And to think this guy was talking about killing all the titans yesterday.

**...**

Some time later. I saw Eren trying do the training again. He was being helped by Mikasa and Armin. Seeing that Eren really wanted to do this,I decided to aproach them. They were surprised to see me at first but decided to ask why I was with them. I just shrugged.

"Looks like you needed help with this."I replied. Eren smiled and asked if I was there to give him tips how to not flip once he is raised.

"There's really no trick to it. You just have to stay calm and not have doubt in yourself." He looked at me with disbelief.

"You can't be serious. There's gotta be a trick to this." He replied. I looked at him in the eyes and grabbed his shoulders.

"Just believe in yourself tomorrow. I'm sure you'll do fine."I said to him with a smile. He smiled at me thanked me for giving him a morale boost. He signaled for Armin to raise him up. And slowly but surely, he has gotten the hang of it. Only for a few seconds though as he immediately flipped and smacked his head against the ground. Armin flinched while me and Mikasa just looked at Eren.

_'Poor guy'_ I thought to myself as I helped Eren stand up. Meanwhile,Armin went to go get some bandages for Eren's bleeding forehead.

**...**

I watch as Eren and the other two make their way to a table. A lot of people looked at Eren and started chuckling. They're probably making fun of him. Bastards.

"Hey,you've been glancing at those three's direction for quite some time now. Do you have a crush on Mikasa or something?"Porco said with a deadpan look on his face.

"Are you being serious or are you just teasing."I asked him. He just shrugged and continued eating. I rolled my eyes at his response. I swear to God. This guy.

I glanced at Eren again and noticed something...strange. There's some sort of...steam coming out on top of his head.

_'Am I...Seeing this_ _right?'_I thought to before I could make a conclusion,the steam suddenly stopped appearing. Huh,maybe it was just my imagination.

**...**

Later that night I saw Eren,with Armin,trying to get help from Jean and Connie but he eventually gave up to look for someone else. I decided to chase him. When I reached him he greeted me with a smile.

"Go ask Reiner and Bertholdt. They might give you some advice."I said to him. He looked at me with hope in his eyes.

"You really think so?"He asked. I nodded at him and pointed at the cabin where the two were staying in.

"Look for the blonde guy with another guy wearing a dark blue sweater. Those two hang around each other all the time so it shouldn't be a problem finding them." He thanked me and left with Armin. After seeing them enter the cabin I decided to head back to my cabin. As soon as I entered my cabin,I was greeted by Marco. He was talking to Thomas but greeted me anyway.

"Hi Marco."I greeted back. After I greeted back he continued his talk with Thomas. I lay on my bed and begin to sleep.

**The next day...**

We all gathered around Eren to see if he'd finally be able to complete this balance training. Everyone was whispering all sort of things. Some were wishing Eren good luck,some were still making fun of him,and some were making bets. As soon as Eren was getting raised up,everything went quiet. And for a few seconds Eren remained still. No signs of flipping upside-down. The other cadets cheered for him. But all of a sudden,the unexpected happened. He immediately flipped upside-down. The crowd went quiet. Eren was on his knees when he was lowered. However,Commander Shadis made him switch belts with Thomas. And interestingly enough,as soon as he was raised,he didn't flip upside-down. It wasn't until Commander Shadis told us why Eren kept flipping. His belt was damaged. As soon as the other cadets heard this news they started praising Eren for even lasting a few seconds with a damaged belt.

"Huh,guess he's not all talk after all. He has my respect." Porco said from behind. I smiled mentally at my brother's words.

* * *

**Three Year Later...**

Marcel woke up early and decided to have a nice and calming walk. He and the other warriors(mostly Annie)had spent some of their time gathering information on the Reiss family. Unfortunately they had to stop when Annie was nearly caught by "A guy in black that was completely on another level of skill." Who ever that guy was, they had to watch out for him if they want to join the MPs. Oh well the day of disbanding is today anyway. They might as well wait for it instead of doing something brash that might lead them to prolong their mission. Plus, they were sure that all five of them will make it to the top ten.

"Hey Marcel."Marco greeted,coming to view all of a sudden,surprising Marcel. Oh yeah he made a lot of friends during their early training days. He finally got the name of the three kids with them on the boat. The crying kid was Eren . A guy with no particular set of skills. But has unmatched determination. And he's also the only guy in their class that made Annie smile. A guy like that was to be remembered. The other kid with dark hair was Mikasa Ackerman. She always sticks around Eren for whatever reason. Meanwhile,the blonde kid was named Armin Arlert. What he lacks in strength he makes up for with his intellect.

_'Huh,he reminds me of Pieck now that I think about it' _Marcel thought to himself. Marco pulled him out of his thought by saying something.

"Sorry,Marco,what did you say?"He asked pretending to be embarrassed. Marco just smiled at him and repeated what he said.

"I asked what branch of the military you and your brother are joining."Marcel just wanted to admit that he's gonna join the Military Police along with Porco. However some part of him wanted to lie to Marco. And that part of him won.

"I'll be joining the Survey Corps. I don't know about my brother,though."He replied. This reply barely fazed Marco. The smile on Marco's face is still intact. But he looked away from him. There was an uneasy silence between them. The silence being broken by Marco.

"I wish I was as brave as you and Eren. You two always seemed to get along when you two talk about joining the Survey Corps." He said as he looks at Marcel. Marcel suddenly felt a pang of guilt hit him. During those three years,he was the person everyone looked up to. He was an older brother to them. And yet all of it would come crashing down once **_their_** mission is done. He mentally cursed himself.

"Oh,Marco,if you only know."He replied sadly. Unfortunately,Marco seemed to have noticed the tone in his voice. Fortunately,however,Marco didn't bother him about it. A trait he loved about Marco. He knows when he's crossing the line and when he has to stop himself. But just in case he gets curious,Marcel decided to change the subject. He asked about what branch Marco would join. To his surprise, Marco didn't have one in-mind. Three years ago he wanted to join the MPs. But now,he's undecided. Marcel just smiles at him and pats his back.

"Don't worry about us,Marco. Worry about yourself for a change,would you?"He jokingly replied. Marco smiled at Marcel and also joked about him being a hypocrite. Although he knew why Marco called him that,he hated the fact that he was right. All of his actions up to now where always overshadowed with his self sacrifice,his kind nature,and his love for his friends. They don't know a single thing about him other than that he and his brother _"came from a village in the east of Shiganshina." _What a load of shit.

**...**

Hand to hand training was pretty much the same as usual. Eren going to Annie to learn her technique,Sasha and Connie doing dumb shit together,and most of the other cadets slacking off. Marcel looked for someone to spar with. As he was searching for someone,he immediately sees his brother taking down Reiner.

_'He's gotten good at this training.'_Marcel thought to himself. And he continued to look for a partner.

**...**

The night was more calmer than most nights. The other cadets were all gathered in the middle. Commander Keith Shadis started to walk towards the stage. As soon as the cadets noticed him,they all started moving to their positions. Marcel was one of the many cadets who was in front. So when Commander Shadis started shouting the top ten, he wanted to faint right there and there. Unfortunately, he didn't.

"Top one,Mikasa Ackerman,Top two,Marcel Galliard,Top three,Reiner Braun,Top four,Bertholdt Hoover,Top five Annie Leonhart,Top six,Eren Jäger,Top seven,Porco Galliard,Top eight,Jean Kirstein,top nine,Marco Bott,and Top ten,Connie Springer. All of you will be able to choose any military branch you want to join. That is all."

Marcel sighed. Glad that all five of them made it into the top ten. He glanced at Porco,who was wearing a smug smirk on his face. He then looked at Annie,Bertholdt,and Reiner. The three of them were wearing a serious face. Unlike his brother. He didn't give it much thought and just turned to leave.

'Alright,tomorrow's the day.'Marcel whispered to himself.


	3. The struggle for Trost pt1

**The next day...**

Marcel followed Eren and a few others to the gate. When they reached the gate. They saw a lot of people gathered there. They were cheering on some soldiers riding on horseback. They wore cloaks with the "Wings of Freedom" on their backs. These soldiers were obviously from the Survey Corps.

"Kick the titans' ass for us Commander Erwin!"One of the villager said. His voice filled with enthusiasm.

"Strange. I heard that people used to hate the Survey Corps for going out in Titan territory." Marcel said to the others.

"Yeah. It's because they're the only Military Branch that has the highest death toll. People think that their taxes goes to them just to be eaten by the titans."Hanna replied.

_'Well,that explains some things' _Marcel thought to himself. He decided to stay for a little longer before deciding to go up the wall. Before he left he noticed an old Garrison soldier approach Eren. After that Marcel just left.

Once he reached the top of the wall the. He began cleaning some of the cannons. It didn't take long before the rest of the other cadets arrived to help clean the cannons. The cadets that were there with him were Daz,Mina,Eren,Thomas,Samuel,Connie,and Milieus. Sasha was supposed to be with them but she was nowhere to be seen. Although Marcel was curious where Sasha was, he simply decided to let it go and continue his cleaning. After a few more minutes, he heard Eren and Connie talk about what branch they were joining. However he was too far away to hear the rest of the conversation. Although,he did notice that some of them decided to join in on the conversation as well. Suddenly,he sees Sasha near the edge of the wall. She slowly makes her way towards the others and greets Marcel while she was walking. She then slowly pulls out a large piece of meat from her jacket. Everyone was shocked to see it but she explained why she "borrowed" the meat. Marcel laughs at her reasoning. While the others claim they want a piece of it.

"Ahh...What a calming day." Marcel said to the others. But then,a yellow light flashed behind Eren. And the Colossal Titan suddenly appeared behind the wall.

**...**

Everything went too fast for Marcel. One minute he was standing on the top of the wall. The next minute he was falling. He quickly used his Omni-dimensional mobility gear before he plummets to the ground. A lot of questions went to his head.

_'Why the hell did Bertholdt transform? Did he want to break the gate? Who gave him the order to do it?'_ He suddenly heard Eren screaming an order. He looked down below. The gate was already broken. Titans were starting to enter. He wasted no time and immediately went down to confront the titans. As he was descending,one of the titans noticed him and tried to grab him. He used his blades to slice the fingers off and went behind the titan to cut its nape. He successfully killed the titan and went to kill another one.

'I'll have to talk to the others about this.'He whispered to himself. He continued to kill as much as titans as he could before he run out of gas. He killed four more titans and incapacitated three before Garrison reinforcements arrived. He was instructed to evacuate along with the rest of the cadets. He looked back to see if anyone became a casualty. He sighed. Only Samuel. As soon as they reached the area where the rest of the cadets were rallied. He immediately looked for _them._ He saw Reiner standing over Bertholdt. He would've approach them if the Captain didn't arrive this early.

"Attention!"The captain ordered. After everyone stepped forward to listen to what he has to say,He began the briefing. The Garrison soldiers that approached Marcel were the Vanguard. However,the vanguard was wiped out due to the amount of Titans they had to fought. Meanwhile, the cadets,them,were gonna be stationed midguard. They were gonna be responsible for the main defense of Trost. While the elites are stationed in rearguard to kill any titans that breached through the midguard. And anyone who deserts will be executed for treason. The captain soon left and everyone hurried to get to their stations. Some few cadets however, were demoralized and didn't even bother move from their places. Marcel wanted to encourage them but he did not have time. He had to talk to his comrades about this. He tried to find them but they were nowhere to be found. He immediately left the area to try and find them.

* * *

"Did he saw you two leave?"Porco asked. He was sitting on the roof of a house while looking at the titans fight some fellow cadets. Reiner and Bertholdt sat beside him. Reiner looked at him and shook his head. Porco looked at him and smiled.

"Good. My brother will probably ask to know why we did it. If he finds you two and catches up, you two know what to do." Reiner and Bertholdt nodded their heads. Porco nodded back and stood up from his position. He used his gear and traversed through the street. Not long after,Reiner and Bertholdt stood up and also left.

* * *

Marcel kept trying to find his brother and the others. He was so focused about his current objective that he did not even notice that he was being followed. He only noticed it when he heard them land just a few meters behind him. He turned around as quick as he could and saw some fellow cadets. He was confused.

"Why are all of you following me?" He asked carefully. The guy with light-brown hair in front of him talked.

"We're assigned to be in your squad. You're Marcel,right?" He was dumbfounded. No one told him about this. Nevertheless,he just nodded and continue his journey. He'll have to find the others later. He'll play soldier for now.

**...**

After killing a few titans with his squad, he immediately notices Eren's almost lifeless body at one of the roofs. He also noticed some other cadets about to get eaten by titans. He ordered his squad to kill all the titans in sight. Kriegs,the guy with light brown-hair,killed the titan that was about to eat Mina. Meanwhile,he and the other three tried to save Nack and Milieus. But they were too late when they killed the titans.

"Squad leader! A Titan's about to eat that other cadet on the roof!." Kriegs yelled at him. Marcel tilted his head. And to his horror,he sees Armin get picked up by a bearded titan and dropped in his mouth. Marcel turned to face the titan but was alerted by one of squad members that a couple of three to six meter Titans were approaching him. He looked at the titans and back at the bearded titan. Suddenly he noticed that Eren was holding the titan's mouth open. He then pulled Armin out of the titan's mouth and tossed him on top of the roof of a house.

_'What a fucking beast.' _Marcel thought to himself. On the corner of his eye, he noticed that a titan's hand was about to grab him. Fortunately for him, Stein, the only female in his squad, saved him.

"Squad leader,please. Don't lo-"She was cut off by Armin's scream. Marcel was wide eyed. He noticed that the bearded titan's mouth was closed. Oh no.

"Kriegs,Stein pick Armin and Mina up and fall back!."Marcel yelled at them. Kriegs followed his order and went to pick Armin up. He looked down to see Marcel and the others are already leaving. He wasted no time and also left the area.

**...**

After they reached an area with barely any titans,they decided to rest up. Especially those who carried Armin and Mina. Armin was in complete shock and Mina looked like she was traumatized. Kriegs approached Marcel and gave him the status of their gas. It was bad. They were all low on gas. Suddenly they all heard some omni-dimensional mobility gear being used to their right. They all turned to see who those people were. It was Connie and Krista with a bunch of other cadets. He waved at Connie and Connie waved back. But Connie noticed Armin and Mina and walked towards them. He tried to snap Armin back to reality and asked what happened to the squad he was in. Mina looked at him,ready to cry. Marcel walked away to look at a nearby titan. It had blood all over its mouth.

"Huh. Look at that guy. He probably had a feast or something"Kriegs said with a deadpan expression. Marcel looked at him and smiled.

"Then lets not get turned into titan food."He said to Kriegs. Kriegs smiled back and started walking back to the rest of the group. Once Kriegs left,Marcel dropped his smile and looked at the inner wall. Is the evacuation of the civilians done? His question was immediately answered. The bell rang. Everyone looked at Marcel all of a sudden. He got uneasy at the sight.

"Uhh...What do you guys need?"He asked nervously.

"We await your orders,Squad Leader."Stein replied.

_'Oh,I thought it was much worse.' _Marcel thought to himself. He let out a long sigh and walked toward the others.

"Just follow me. We'll go to the Supply HQ and refill our gas. We can't reach the outer wall without resupplying. Got it?" Everyone around him nodded their heads and began standing up. However,Marcel notices Armin crying while being comforted by Mina and Connie.

"It's time to leave,you three,stand up."He said to them. Even though he was in tears,Armin still stood up and wiped away his tears. Mina looked at him and comforted him more. Connie looked at Marcel and gave him a small smile.

"Thanks for being a reliable leader." Connie says as he walks away. Marcel followed him and looked behind him. Armin and Mina's following him. Good,at least they can think again.

**...**

They only traveled for only two minutes or so before they spotted a large group of cadets in one area. Marcel points at the position and everyone behind him goes that direction. Marcel landed himself in front to see if the Supply HQ was still far. To his dismay,the Supply HQ was being surrounded by Titans. He looked behind him to see the other cadets' reaction. He saw their empty faces. Some terrified while some were still determined. He suddenly realized who those determined faces belong to.

_'Why are you four here' _Marcel angrily thought to himself. He approached them slowly and glared at them. Porco and Reiner looked at him while Bertholdt and Annie looked away from him. Before he could talk,Marco started talking to no one.

"So is this how I die? I knew one day or another this would happen but...I never knew it would be so meaningless." Poor guy. He and the other cadets deserved to be celebrating because today's the day they were gonna pick the branch they want to join. They're not supposed to be fighting in the front lines. Instead of talking to his "comrades" he decided to encourage Marco. It sort of worked. At least he's smiling instead of having small talks with himself. He then starts talking at how they could encourage the other cadets to rush to Supply HQ. Marcel did not even noticed Mikasa arrived and talked to Armin. She walked towards Marco and asked if going to Supply HQ would let the cadets to escape.

"Yeah,but right now we have no one to lead us so Marcel and I are trying to form a plan."Marco replies. Mikasa just walked towards the front of the group after hearing what Marco said. She then prepares to leave for the Supply HQ. But abruptly stops after some cadets told her she can't make it. She faced the group and, to his and Marco's surprise, brags about her being strong and that she could make it there without the others. But she didn't stop there. She started calling them cowards and belittle them for giving up so easily. Some complained and say that she will die, Mikas acknowledged the risks but insists that if she wins then she can live. She then leaves for HQ. Marcel smiled and looked at Marco with determination in his eyes. Marco smiled back and they nodded at each other they started walking past everyone. They noticed Jean turn around with a determined face.

"Oi! Were we trained to let our comrades fight alone?! At this rate we're going turn out to be spineless cowards!"He screams at them and starts to chase after Mikasa. Connie,Marco,Marcel,and Marcels squad followed him quickly.

"I'm surprised I'd hear him say that."Reiner said as he also prepares to leave. Porco follows him along with Bertholdt and Annie. Armin and Mina stand up and decide to also follow the others that's leaving for Supply HQ. Sasha then starts insulting the ones that are still standing and doing nothing. She then proceeded to also leave for HQ.

**...**

Marcel looked behind him and smiled mentally when he saw all the other cadets follow them. He looks at Jean and smiles at him. Jean gives him a confused look.

"That was a nice speech,Jean." Marco said from his left. Jean sighed and just said thanks. Jean looked back and yelled as Mikasa kills a titan in front of them.

"Hurry! Follow Mikasa! Let's keep this fight short! We need to kill them before we run out of gas!" Meanwhile,Connie looks up at Mikasa in awe.

"Mikasa's just amazing. How can she move that fast?"Connie says while admiring her speed. Marcel and Armin noticed this too but Marcel didn't say anything about it.

_'She's using too much gas. She'll run out right away. I don't care how skilled she is...Without our agility,we can't do anything!' _Armin thought to himself. They did a turn and Mikasa killed another titan in their way.

_'She's not in her usual cool-headed state...She wants to drown out her pain through action.'_Armin thought to himself again.

Marcel only looked at Mikasa. He knows she'll run out of gas soon. And once that happens,someone will have to take up her position as vanguard. And to a lot of everyone's horror,it finally happened. She ran out of gas and fell somewhere. Shit.

"Armin,Connie, go after Mikasa!"Marcel yelled as loud as he can. Armin was already on his way with Connie following closely behind.

"All of you,follow me and Jean!"He yelled again. Jean went with his pace. to talk to him.

"Marcel! Let me go with those two!"Jean said clearly in distress.

"What?! Are you crazy? If I get killed by the titans you'll have to lead the others! They'll need your skill!"Jean looked in front of him and was shocked at the amount of titans still present. Jean looked down and continued to follow Marcel. After three minutes of soaring through the air Marcel went right and landed on a roof. Jean and the others followed them. Marcel walked to the edge and looked down. Jean decided to do the same. To his horror he sees a fellow cadet that ran out of gas. He took some steps back when suddenly,some cadets ran past them and tried to save the cadet. Jean tried to stop them but it was too late. They were already grabbed by the titans from below. The cadets below started screaming. Kriegs walked past him and stood beside Marcel.

"Squad leader,should we try to save them?"He asked. Marcel shook his head and turned to face Jean.

"Jean,your calling the shots on this one."By the time Marcel finished what he was saying the screaming stopped. Jean looked down on his feet and closed his eyes.

_'Am I really cut out for this?'Jean asked himself._


	4. The struggle for Trost pt2

**Note:This might be the only chapter ya mates will get for a while. School has started here recently. Hope you guys will understand.**

* * *

Armin,Mikasa, and Connie watched in shock as a titan kill one more of its fellow titans. They still couldn't believe what they were seeing. This was the first time they saw a Titan kill its fellow titans. But what differentiate this titan from the rest of the other titans is its titan was aware of its own species weak spot. Its body build and its strength was unlike any other titans' they encountered. Armin,being the strategist he is,came up with a strategy to clear the titans surrounding Supply HQ. He explained how they can use this "abnormal" titan to clear the titans on Supply HQ. Connie and Mikasa were surprised at what they heard. Not long after, Mikasa agreed to the plan. Connie was initially against the idea but agreed anyway after being convinced by Mikasa.

* * *

_'Am I really cut out for this?'Jean asked himself. _He didn't even know what to do. One minute Marcel was leading the charge now he's being tasked to get them out of their current situation. He realized something strange though. All of the titans were gathered around the area of the cadet that ran out of gas and the other two that failed to save him. This was their chance!

"Go!Hurry to HQ while you can!"He then jumped down on another roof and started running towards HQ. Marcel smiled and looked at Marco. Marco nodded.

"You all heard Jean,didn't you?! This is our chance! We can't let this slip!"Marco then jumped down to follow Jean. Marcel and his squad followed closely behind. Not long after, everyone else started running to HQ. Marcel still didn't drop his smile from earlier. He easily caught up to Marco and Jean. Jean gritted his teeth and ordered all of them to move in. They all jumped over a ledge and not long after used their omni-dimensional mobility gear. It was now or never.

All of them initially dodged every titan in their way. And Jean having to cut a titan's finger to let him escape. However as the came closer and closer to the HQ, more and more titans came into view. And at least half of them were grabbed and eaten by the ,however,allowed them to reach HQ without anymore problems. They managed to reach the HQ thanks to the deaths of their comrades. Marcel wasn't fazed by this at all by one bit. Which really surprised Marco. He didn't expect to see him react like this to the people that considered him an older brother. Oh well guess he'll have to ask him about his behavior later. However, everyone failed to notice Jean getting angry at a fellow soldier from the supply squad. Marco immediately tried to stop Jean. But once Jean got held back,he continued to harass the poor guy with words. Even though the other soldier from the supply squad explained why they couldn't help them earlier. This did not make Jean's anger go away.

"Jean,that's enough. We already lost a lot of our comrades today. We can't afford to fight against one another."Reiner explained. Jean relaxed although still keeping his annoyed expression. Suddenly they heard a weird noise outside. Reiner shouted to take cover. But two cadets were blown away when a titan rammed its face on the wall.

"Damn it, there's too much of us in here. The titans probably gathered around HQ when they saw us!" Marcel announced to the others. Most of the other cadets ran out of the room except for a few cadets. _They_ were also there but were farther back. Jean froze up when he saw two titans looking at him through the hole in the wall. But was surprised when a fist connected with one of the titans' face. A rather muscular titan went to his view. He questioned himself what that was before hearing another window breaking. He checked to see who it was. And to his delight,it was Mikasa,Connie, and Armin.

"It's empty...We did it! We just barely made it!"Connie says to Armin while knocking on his gas canister.

"You're...all alive?"Jean asked,surprised at who he was looking at. Connie pat Armin's back which obviously had hurt him. And claimed that his plan worked. Connie then stood up and announced that the titan outside fighting the other titans was an abnormal. He pointed at the titan that knocked out the two titans that stared at also said that it had no interest in humans. Marcel immediately went to see the titan himself. Indeed it was only attacking other titans only. But he suddenly remembers something during their first few days in training. He thought he saw steam come out on top of Eren's head.

_'Eren...is that...you?' _He kept his eyes on the supposed "abnormal" titan for a few more seconds before turning away. He knew the others has to know this. Marcel walked past Marco and told him to see the titan for himself. Marco nodded and walked towards Mikasa and the others. He stared at the other people in the room. It was only _them._ He stared at them before he started talking. This made his brother glare at him while Reiner just looked at him. Annie and Bertholdt looked away from him,_again._

_'_Once we leave this place alive we have to revise our plan. We now have a side objective in case we can't capture the coordinate.' He whispered to them all of them nodded and left the room. Marcel let out a long sigh. 'This is gonna be a pain in the ass' He whispered to himself.

* * *

They started walking downstairs. Armin devised a plan to take our the titans inside the supply depot. The members of the top ten will be the ones to kill the titans while the rest of the cadets will blind the titans by shooting their eyes from the lift. The seven people who will kill the titans were Mikasa,Marcel,Reiner, Bertholdt,Annie,Jean, and Porco. Once they reached the bottom they all went to their positions. The lift started going down. Now the seven of them will just have to wait for the titans. And just as expected, the titans started to approach the lift with the other cadets in it. But no matter how close the titans got,they still didn't fire their rifles. Good. They needed the titans to be as close as possible to the pillars so the seven of them can completely take out the titans. They can't afford to make a mistake. A single mistake is all they needs to get one or a lot of them killed.

"Psst,hey."Porco called to his brother. Marcel looked at him.

"What do you need."He asked.

"What do we to the "abnormal" outside."Marcel didn't respond and shrugged.

"We'll have to do a voting with the other top ten. We only have a few options though."

"Quiet down you two. The titans are near the lift already."Reiner scolds the brothers. Porco rolls his eyes while Marcel looked down on his target. Not long after, gunshots echoed around the entire supply depot. Several of the titans scream in pain while the rest just touched their own face. This is it!

"NOW!"Marcel screamed. They all executed the titans one after another. No one failed to kill their targets. Thank God. After confirming that there were no more titans inside the supply depot,everybody cheered for their small victory. Everybody started to refill their gas and their blades. Marco sat beside Jean and talked to him about him being a good leader one day. Reiner and Bertholdt refilled their gas with everybody else. Sasha and Connie were playing with the gas and was scolded by Marcel. Once they were done refilling their gas, the cadets went out and started retreating. Kriegs waited for Marcel and got noticed by him.

"Go on ahead with the others. I'll catch up"Marcel "ordered" him.

"Whatever you say,squad leader." And with that,he left with the rest of his squad-mates. After that, Marcel left as fast as he can with the other top ten graduates. They had to decide what they would do with the "abnormal". Marco caught up to him and looked.

"What should we do with it?"He asks. Marcel shrugs.

"I don't know if we should try to lure it to into a trap or if we should try to communicate with it." Marcel replied. Truth to be told. Marcel doesn't really know what _they _should do with the human inside. But he'll have to worry about that later. He needs to know who's gonna be inside the titan. Though he has a pretty good guess who's in it.

"Oh well, guess we'll find out. Right,bro?" Porco glanced at his brother. Marcel glanced back but didn't say anything else. Once they were out of the depot they looked for the titan. They didn't have to look far before they saw the titan. It was being eaten by other titans around the area.

"Well...there goes our plans for the titan."Reiner says to the others.

"Dammit. And here I thought we finally have a titan on our side."Jean says. Obviusly annoyed.

"We should head back with the others." Jean turns around and starts to leave but stopped when the abnormal titan screamed. He immediately runs back and tries to see why it screamed.

"Look over there. It's the abnormal titan that ate Thomas!"Armin said to the others. They all looked at a titan that was slowly walking towards their "abnormal" ally. To their surprise, their "abnormal" titan easily killed every titan in the area even without his arms. After that,it screamed. And fell down on the ground,face first.

"Looks like it ran out of energy. C'mon you guys,let's go already."Jean says,even more annoyed. The rest of them,however,just stared at the titan.

**...**

_'Of all did it have to be you,Eren?" _Marcel asked himself again. He kept asking himself the same question over and over again. Porco tried to talk to him but he just stayed silent the entire time Porco talked. He looked at the other cadets that knows about Eren's secret. They looked nervous. And they have the right to feel that way. After all,they didn't know what _he_ and _the others_ know. Marcel looked at the HQ where Eren was being held. He suddenly felt anxious. He started to worry about what the Garrison would do with Eren. Someone tapped his shoulder and he looked at who it was. He smiled at who it was.

"Oh,hi Annie. Enjoyed luring the titans?" Annie shot him a glare and Marcel dropped his smile.

'Keep your voice down. They might hear you.' Marcel frowned and slowly turned his head away.

'What do you want?'He asked,not even bothering to look at her.

'I need to talk to you after this whole mess is over. It's important you know what I have to say.'And with that,she left. Marcel tried to stop her but he suddenly heard an explosion.

_'That can't be good.'_ He thought to himself. He stood up from the bench and immediately rushed to see what caused the explosion.

When he reached the top of the HQ. Most of the top ten were already there. They were whispering something he couldn't hear. But he could care less at what they were saying. The thing he was looking at was far more interesting. There was an incomplete titan stretching its left arm out and its hand was destroyed. He looked at it carefully and noticed that Mikasa and Armin were inside its rib cage. Eren probably protected them from the explosion. He's seen enough. He got the other warriors' attention and motioned for them to follow him. He jumped down and hooked to a building to land safely. He went inside an abandoned house. And the others followed.

"At least one of us will have to join the military branch Eren will join. And the rest will join the MPs."Marcel told the others. Everyone looked at one another and then at Marcel.

"Who will join the MPs?"Bertholdt asked. Marcel shrugged.

"It's up to the four of you."Everyone looked at each other and back at Marcel again.

"I don't want to go home as a lifeless body. So I'll go with Military Police."Annie said.

"I'm gonna go with Annie."Bertholdt jumped in.

"And I'm going with you"Reiner replies.

"Well then...I'm also gonna join the MP."Porco announces. They all looked at Marcel who was looking down at his feet.

"So I'm the only one joining Eren?"He said. Everyone began to feel guilty.

"Hey,just look at it this way. We'll be the ones to complete the main objective while you take a break."Porco tried to explain. Marcel lifted his head with a serious expression on his face.

"Tell me. Will there be titans inside wall Sheena?"

"No."Was all they could reply. Marcel,to everyone's surprise,started laughing. It began as a quiet chuckle till it got louder and louder. The four of them started to get worried and tried to calm him down. Once he calmed down he began talking.

"Fantastic! While you guys try to find the Founding titan. I'll be risking my life outside these walls! While you all gang up on the Founding titan,I'll solo Eren and the elite Scouts!" At this point they all begin to get...mad? Porco was the first one to snap.

"Really?! You're the one that gets angry?! You know what,you started acting differently when we all joined the Training Corps! At first you warned us to not get attached with anyone in there. But you literally made some friends on the first day of training!" Marcel looked down again,though,he still has his smile. Porco continued his rant.

"And you started losing your pragmatism when you met that blonde chick named Krista! We lost our faith in you! We no longer follow your orders!"

"That's enough,Porco."Reiner tried to stop him but was pushed back.

"No,it's not enough! He needs to learn all of his mistakes! You know what,Marcel. We no longer need you. You can join the Scouts and we won't care. You can join the Garrison and we won't give two shits about you!" Annie suddenly kicked Porco on the ribs and made him fall down.

"That's...enough,Annie."Everyone turned to look at Marcel,who was now looking at them.

"My bro-Porco's right. I've lost my way since we...you guys destroyed the gates. I've become an even bigger softie once we joined the Training Corps. I was desperate to get my mind off the things Marley drilled to our heads." Was he crying?

"I don't doubt that my Jaw titan will get stripped off of me once we return home. And once that happens..."He looked down at Porco. Who was still clutching his sides.

"You'll have to take care of dad and mom for me,Porco." Bertholdt started sweating, Annie looked surprised just like Reiner. Porco let go of his glare and just stared at his brother. For a few minutes,no one talked. They didn't realize how long they were inside the house when they suddenly heard someone saying attention. Marcel looked outside and begun walking past them and towards the door. He stopped and looked at the four of them.

"Let's go. Someone might notice that the five of us are gone."And with that,he stepped outside.

* * *

"Hey,do you guys know where the hell Marcel is?"Jean asked Kriegs and Stein. Both of them shook their heads. Jean apologized and left the two. He met up with Connie and Sasha.

"Jean,did you find him?"Sash asked

" not even his squad knows where he is."Connie sighed and started looking around.

"Where could he be?"Connie says.

"Who you guys looking for?" A familiar voice came from behind. The three of them turned around to see who said those words. And to their delight,it was Marcel.

"We've looked everywhere for you! Did you hear the plan to retake Trost District.?" Jean asked. Marcel smiled and nodded his head. He wasn't technically lying. Although he didn't listen to the first part of the plan.

"Good. Let's move. The others are waiting for us."And with that, they all left.

* * *

"Squad leader! On your right!" Stein warned him just in time as the titan tried to grab him. He jumped out of the way and hooked onto a nearby house.

"Kriegs! Take care of it! Adrian,lend Kriegs a hand!"Marcel ordered them he heard two yes sirs and omni-dimensional mobility gears. Well that's that. He suddenly notices that Marco's missing.

_'Where the hell did you go?'_Marcel thought to himself. He looked around the area and concluded that he's not there.

"Kriegs! Take over command and rally with the main force! Protect Eren at all costs!"

"Sure thing Squad leader." Kriegs went near Eren's position with the rest of the squad. Meanwhile, Marcel went another direction to look for Marco. He swung for a few minutes and noticed Marco a few meters to his right.

"MARCO!"He yelled. Marco heard and looked at him.

"Oh,hi Marcel. What do you need?"Marcel looke over Marco's shoulder and sees Reiner and Bertholdt standing on a roof. He then looked at Marco again.

"I just wanted to ask you what branch you would join."Marco shrugged

"I'm still not sure." And he turned around to look at Reiner and Bertholdt.

"Let's go ask them shall we?"Marco asked as he went towards the two of them. Marcel followed him to make sure he doesn't get himself into..._trouble._


	5. Aftermath

"Reiner,Bertholdt!" Marco called out. Reiner and the Bertholdt turned around to look at him. They looked at each other nervously before Reiner talked.

"Marco...How much did you hear?" Marco shook his head and smiled at them

"Nothing. Me and Marcel just arrived." He said as he pointed at Marcel. Marcel didn't bother look at them but waved his hand in a friendly manner anyway.

"C'mon you guys. We'll have to join the mai-"Marco was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. They looked at the direction where the noise came from and sees a titan coming for them.

"We have to join the main force. We don't have to worry about that titan now." Marco jumped off the roof and started heading towards Eren's direction. Marcel glanced at the two of them and followed Marco shortly. The two of them followed and didn't say a thing to Marcel along the way.

* * *

The battle was over and it was a pyrrhic victory for the Walldians. After winning the battle, the recruits were given a day to rest. But they were immediately put back in duty to help gather the bodies of their fallen comrades. The clean up took them three whole days. Some of the bodies were never identified. While some were unrecognizable. Marcel and the rest of his friends were tired of seeing dead bodies from morning to sunset. They just wanted for it to end.

**...**

"Did you hear? Eren's being taken by the Scouts. They want him under their custody." Sasha said while eating the rest of her food. Porco's eyes widened. Marcel just let out a small chuckle.

"That bastard. He's getting a head start ahead of us!" Marcel said in a joking tone. Everyone tried to laugh at the joke but they found themselves unable to. Not with what they saw back there. Marcel noticed this and dropped his smile. He looked at everyone's faces and saw nothing but discomfort. He knew what to do in this is kind of situations. But he doubts that they would even laugh so he just finished his meal quietly.

* * *

Later that night,they burnt all the corpses of their fallen comrades. Marcel was standing beside Krista when he noticed that there were no tears coming from her eyes. This genuinely surprised him. Sweet,little Krista was not showing any sign of emotion. But,then again,he probably knew why. Ever since their training on that snowy mountain. He started to notice how suicidal she really was. The only reason why she was here was because of him. Time and time again,he convinced her to value her life. Sometimes,they would quarrel with each other about her problem. And every time,she would end up caving to him.

Marcel ended up smiling at those memories. He found it cute how she would try to hit his face and he would just lean back for her to fall on him. However,he also knows that she's not into him. Now that he thinks about it,she's probably not interested in any of the other guys. She probably loves her fellow women. Like,not platonic love but **_actual __lovers kind of love._** He doesn't really care. He's a little "jelly" though,as Connie and Sasha would put it, that her first crush would end up with another woman.

"Hey,let's go to the others."He was pulled out of his thought by Krista's words. Oh yeah,she was standing beside him.

"Yeah,sure thing."He replies. They walked towards Jean and Marco. Marco greeted them but Jean's eyes just focused on the cremated corpses.

"Hi Krista. Do you know what branch you're joining?"Krista nodded her head.

"The Survey Corps."Marcel lets out a sigh. Of course she wants to join the branch with the highest death ratio.

"Really? Why not the Garrison? It's much more safer there."Marco replies. Krista looks at him in the eyes with the same kind of determination in Eren's eyes. It was almost scary. If she didn't look cute.

"No,Marco. I'm not gonna stand here and wait for the titans to attack again. I'm gonna bring the fight to them." Marcel got nervous all of a sudden.

_'Where the hell does she find all these reasons to justify her craving to die?!' _He screamed mentally.

"Me too. I'm gonna join the Survey Corps too." Huh? When did Jean have a change of heart? He really needs to know what goes on the minds of these people.

"So am I."Marco jumps in. Not much surprise there. However,Jean and Krista were surprised by this. They never really saw the other side of Marco.

"But didn't you want to serve the King?" Jean asks. Unsure if he heard his friend correctly. Marco gently smiles at him.

"It's too selfish of me to just serve a single person. I might as well serve the entirety of humankind." Jean couldn't believe what he was hearing.

* * *

"Do you guys think Marcel is still angry at us?"Bertholdt asks. Porco looks at him and forces a smile.

"I bet. My brother was the type of person to always keep grudges."Bertholdt looks at him with a depressed looking face and leaves the room they were resting in.

"Oh come on,Porco. You could do better than that."Reiner playfully scolds him. Porco,however,just glares at him and buries his face underneath the pillows on the bed. Reiner sighs and also leaves the room.

'Damn it. What's up with you,brother?' Porco whispers to himself.

* * *

The night to select the branch they'd like to join have come. Every,the remaining ones,cadet was lined up to listen to each of the Military branches appeal. And to everyone's surprise,the Scout Regiment went to appeal first. Marcel was more surprised that the Commander was brutally honest. Nearly everyone left except for at least a dozen and a half of them remained. The few people that stayed were mostly his friends. Connie,Sasha,Jean,Marco,Armin,Mikasa,Krista, and Mina were there. And three of his fellow warriors were there.

_'What the hell are the three of you doing here?'_

"The three of you should be with Annie in the MP." Marcel said to them. The three of them just looked at him and lowered their heads. Marcel looked at them and sighs.

"Oh well. Guess we'll be going with Plan D after all."He coolly says to them. He then left them to join the others to get their new uniforms. Reiner and Bertholdt watched as their friend leave. Porco,however,only saw a soon-to-be-traitor. His future choices and actions are now gonna decide if he's still trustworthy to know about Zeke and Pieck's presence on the island.


	6. The beginning of the 57th expedition

The next three weeks were easy for Marcel and the other new recruits of the Survey Corps. They were informed about an expedition happening at the end of the month so they were being taught the formation they would utilize once they were out there. The formation is meant to avoid any possible titan that they encounter. Their teacher was named Dieter Ness. His assistant was his subordinate,Luke Cis. Even though both soldiers were friendly towards the recruits,they noticed that both of them would be late for their class. Whether they know something the recruits didn't know or they were just not early birds,Marcel would find out for himself.

He woke up earlier than usual. He wore his uniform and went oustside of his room. He hid behind some boxes and waited for and Luke for a couple of minutes. When he finally saw Ness with some other Scouts. He only knew the tallest soldier out of the group was with. The tallest soldier's name is Miche Zacharias. Humanity's second strongest soldier. The only soldier that can fight Captain Levi and not die. But the rest of the group was anonymous to him. There was a short blonde-haired woman. A woman with goggles closely followed by a guy with light-brown hair parted in the middle. Behind them was Captain Levi himself.

'Huh,he's shorter than I imagined him to be.'He whispered to himself. He also noticed that Mr. Peer was with them.

_'What the fuck. You too ?'_He asked himself mentally. Suddenly Miche stops and starts sniffing the air. Marcel didn't know if he should laugh or if he should be worried. Turns out he should be the latter. Because as soon as he stopped sniffing,he charged Marcel's position with terrifying speed.

_'What the hell!'_But before he could jump out of the way,Miche already collided with the boxes. It all came crashing down on him and gave him a couple of splinters.

"What do you think your doing?"He asked Marcel. Marcel just looked at him and gave no answer. Suddenly,he got picked up.

"Miche,that's too rough! You don't want to scare him shitless do you?"The girl with the goggles said. The guy with light-brown hair just sighed.

"Marcel? What are you doing here? You should be resting with the other recruits!"Ness scolds him. Marcel was suddenly dropped on the floor and looked at the rest of the other soldiers. Why the are they this overprotective about this little gathering of theirs? Suddenly,the door to the HQ opened and the Commander stepped out. The soldiers turned to him and saluted. Noticing this,he picked himself up and also saluted. The Commander raised his hand and motioned for them to come in. Marcel looked hesitant but the Commander also invited him.

Once they all gathered at the Commanders office,they all took a seat. There was an uneasy silence for about a minute before anyone talked.

"So,Marcel. Why did you come here?"The Commander said. Breaking the silence. Instantly,everyone's gaze turned to him.

"I...uh...I just wanted to know why was always late for our classes..."

"Oh? Is that so? Then I shall tell you why. But,make sure to not tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."Everyone was still looking at him. He nodded and they all turned their heads towards the Commander. Erwin pulled out a file from his drawer and threw it on the table. Marcel's eyes widened when he noticed it was his file.

"Out of anyone from the 104th,you had the best prowess in the battlefield. You also have the highest amount of kills and kill assists. Impressive if I say so myself. You and your brother came from a village east of Shiganshina,correct?"Marcel nodded his head. The commander continued reading his file.

"You were top two in your class. It also says here that 'Marcel Galliard is an excellent soldier in all fields. But what makes him different from Mikasa Ackerman is that every other cadets look up to him. He's loyal to his comrades and is a trustworthy soldier. He has also proved to be a capable leader and has revealed that he wants to join the Scout Regiment so that he could help the effort to take back Wall Maria. In the future I could see him become the next leader of the Survey Corps.'"Everyone either raised an eyebrow or glanced at Marcel.

"Just by reading this report,I know I can trust you. Will you trust us though?"Marcel felt nervous all of a sudden. Do they...know? Marcel decided to ignore the feeling and nodded anyway.

"Alright,I'll try to explain this as fast and clear as I can. So prepare yourself."Marcel kept his attention at Commander Erwin.

"We believe there are more human-titans in the 104th. Specifically,your class."Shit. They know.

"Sir,do you have any leads so far?"He asked. Scared to know the answer.

"Unfortunately,no. We don't even know how many there are. But we all agreed that the Colossal and the Armored Titan are titans that are controlled by a human." Here it is. They're slowly figuring it out.

"But,I'm glad you're here. I want you to report anything suspicious about the other cadets once we start the expedition. You know where to find me once we're outside the walls."Commander Erwin paused and looked at Marcel with sincere eyes.

"I'm deeply sorry for putting you in this position. But we will need your skills. Do you accept this duty?"Erwin continued. Marcel looked down at his hands and looked back up.

"I'll do it. Even if it costs my life."Everyone in the room was stunned at his dedication and loyalty,excluding Miche,Levi,and Erwin.

"Good. If you notice a smart titan heading for center-rear,immediately grab some nearby Scouts and follow the titan. Try to stop it from reaching its destination."

"Why? Why is the center-rear important,Commander."He asked. Clearly confused.

"Eren will be there. Along with Captain Levi and his squad."Marcel was surprised. Not because he got told Eren's location without hesitation. But because he told him in the first place. No one even tried to stop the Commander from revealing Eren's location. Do they trust him that much?

"Alright,that is all." And with that,they proceeded to tell him their plan.

* * *

"Oi,have you seen Marcel?"Connie asked Marco. For the past hour they haven't seen him. He wasn't in his bed and his uniform was gone. At first they thought he went for a morning walk. But when he was still gone for the past thirty minutes,they started to worry. Where could he be? Suddenly,the doorknob twisted and everyone immediately took their seats.

"Sorry we were late class. Luke and Marcel had to help me pass the information of where Eren's location would be." Ness announced to the recruits. Almost all of the recruits were wide eyed. Were they finally gonna learn the important part of the of the formation?

"I know many of you will start asking where your friend is in this. So Commander Erwin finally told us where Eren was located. He's gonna be part of the right flank." Many of the recruits got weirded out by the information but decided to not pay attention to it anyway. They all listened to Ness talk about where they will stop during the expdition. One of the recruits raised their hand.

"Sir,why are we choosing to stop at the forest with giant trees?"Marco asked. Ness looks at him and shrugs.

"We still don't know either. But the Commander has to have a pretty good reason for this."Ness calmly replies and continues teaching. Marco seemed to be content at the answer and remained silent for the entire day.

* * *

"The expedition's about to start in a few days! I can't believe we're all finally go outside the walls!"Connie said to the others. The other recruits smiled at him.

"Yeah. I can't wait to see the ocean one day."Armin replies. The others looked at him in confusion.

"Do you guys...not know?" He questions them. Everyone nodded in unison.

"The ocean is a large pool of salt water."Armin explained to the others. He also explained to the others about the outside world. Everyone was wide-eyed at what they heard. They couldn't believe how large the outside world was. A land filled with sand. A mountain that shoots fire. And a land that is made with nothing but ice.

Marcel looked at them with regret. He knows that they might not see any of those once they reach the ocean and find out the truth about this world. Hell,they might not even reach the ocean at all. But he hates showing negativity around them. He might as well encourage them to chase their dreams. At least,when they die,he won't have to get his hands dirty.

"Marcel! You also want to see it,right? The ocean?"Armin said. Breaking his line of thought. Marcel smiled at him and nodded. The expedition is nearing. He only has to lie for a couple more days.

* * *

"Annie! Oi! You got a letter from Marcel."Annie forced herself up to take the letter from her room mate,Hitch. Hitch was grinning at her.

'Oh boy. She read another letter from them.'She whispered to herself. She got up from her bed and walked towards Hitch.

"So,are you two dating or something?"She teased. Annie rolled her eyes at her. Like she would ever have some feelings for that guy.

"No,we're not. We were childhood friends you know."She replies coolly. Hitch dropped her grin and looked at her with a disapproving look on her face.

"Why? If I were you,I'd make a move on him. He's the most normal human being out of all of us in the 104th. The only thing that I don't like about him is his dream."Annie shot her a glare. Why did she tolerate Hitch all this time? Oh wait. It's probably because she's naive most of the time. If she ever switched room mates,and ended with Marlowe,she'll get caught easily by the Military Police.

"Alright,fine. You don't look like you're in the mood to talk today."Hitch handed her the letter and left the room. Once the door closed,she immediately opened the enveloped.

_Hey Annie. It's me,Marcel. I remembered you wanted to me talk about something important. But we never got to talk so...meet me in Utopia District Tomorrow. I want to know why this was important. See you there._

"Oh yeah,I forgot about that."She crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash. She wore her uniform and exited the room.

* * *

**1 week later  
The day of the 57th Expedition**

The day has finally come. For all this nightmare to end. Marcel was almost relieved. If he wouldn't miss them when they leave. He couldn't even stop worrying about them. His situations was...unfortunate.

"The 57th expedition outside the wall starts now!"Commander Erwin shouted. Everyone began to move forward. Marcel noticed the seriousness of his fellow Scouts. They saw what the titans are capable of doing and yet...they all choose to risk their lives to retake Wall Maria.

_'They're probably better than most of Marley's soldiers.'_Marcel thought to himself. He noticed how much trust each Scout puts on one another. There's probably no corruption among their ranks.

"Marcel! You know what to do,right?"Reiner asks him. Marcel nodded and proceeded to separate. He knew what they had to do. But he didn't want to do it. He knew,Annie and Porco will be the ones to get their hands dirty. But this was HIS plan. They were gonna act because of HIM.

"If only I could have convinced her..."He said to himself. And with that,he left to join the right flank.


End file.
